


Scamming the Scammers

by Ash0605



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS (Video Game), Love Live! School Idol Project, ラブライブ! 虹ヶ咲学園スクールアイドル同好会 | Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai (Anime)
Genre: And Ai is the ultimate friend!, Birthday, Everyone Is Gay, Gen, I mention the names of the songs they sing, If excessive swearing puts you off you might want to skip this, Refund scammers, Rina is a neurodivergent queen!, Slight spoilers for Rina's and Ai's episodes, Tags Are Hard, The scammer swears a lot when angry, an attempt at comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:26:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27549823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ash0605/pseuds/Ash0605
Summary: An old lady at the old folks home Ai volunteers at loses a lot of money to a refund scam. While the money itself was out of Ai and Rina's reach, petty revenge was well within their grasp.Happy Birthday Rina!
Relationships: Miyashita Ai/Tennouji Rina
Comments: 7
Kudos: 30





	Scamming the Scammers

When Rina walked through the automatic doors leading into the old folks home, she noted that the atmosphere was duller than usual. The venerable old folks who wandered the site while leisurely enjoying the scenery were instead rushing to their destination, not even giving Rina a second look. Even the receptionist, who was always kind and cheery to the young girl, was somber. She didn’t even give Rina a sweet.

She froze when she heard a wailing sound coming from the dining room, but quickly found the courage to keep moving. Rina continued down the connecting hallway and into the dining hall, finding that it was way too empty for a usual lunch time. The countless tables dotted around the hall were empty save for one in the center of the room, where a ton of people were crowding around and comforting a distraught old lady.

Ai was standing there too, and when she noticed Rina she waved and gestured her to come over. “Sorry for calling you on short notice Rinari. I figured you might know more about this stuff than I do.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Rina replied bluntly. “You said that she was affected by some sort of scam?”

“That’s right.” one of the staff members comforting her said, prompting Rina to whip her head around. “Tama here was called up by a company offering her a refund and well, to tell a long story short, she lost a lot of money.”

Rina sighed melancholically. “That’s awful. I’m really sorry that happened to you.” She slowly made her way towards the crying older woman and gently tugged her sleeve in order to get her attention. “If you don’t mind me asking, did they make you pay via gift cards?”

The older woman let out a shaky sniffle in response to this, prompting the staff member to step in and place an encouraging hand on her shoulder. “Did they take gift cards, Tama? Nod or shake your head if you want.”

After a few long seconds of sorrow, Tama nodded her head.

“I see. Gift cards are pretty much untraceable, so I don’t think I would be able to get that money back for you.”

The older woman wailed again, burying her face in her sodden handkerchief. As she looked upon her furrowed brow and screwed up eyes Rina felt her heart snap in two. This sympathy was joined by guilt as Rina noticed her deadpan expression reflecting in a dinner plate on the table. She internally cursed her robotic expression for not providing the empathy that the woman sorely needed.

Perhaps noticing this, Ai moved the plate away from Rina’s peripheral vision and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up about it Rinari. Is there anything we can do?”

“There is one thing. The only thing we can really do is get revenge.”

Rina’s eyes scanned the room, noting that the faces of the people there ranged from confusion to curiosity. It was a few seconds before the staff member spoke.

“Revenge? What?”

\----------

Every person Rina talked to as they prepared their plan reacted to it in a slightly different way. While Karin, always keen to keep up her mature image, folded her arms and sighed sorrowfully, Yu fell to the floor and started crying her eyes out. Despite the little differences, everybody’s faces lit up when they heard about the idea of revenge; of calling up the scammers in order to waste their time and prevent them from harming more people.

The only other varied reaction Rina got was Ai, who not only showed great enthusiasm for the idea, but also pledged to help Rina out in anyway she could. She agreed to take up the phone, sparing Rina from the aspect she was fearing the most.

Despite all the support, Rina still succumbed to waves of doubt as she did her research and made her preparations. The money was already stolen, and there was no way they could get it back. Compared to that, the idea of annoying the scammers sounded like nothing more than an insulting slight. Though when the doubts hit, Ai’s encouragement and the enthusiasm from her friends and the people at the care home quickly rekindled her morale.

Preparations for a live performance and the live performance itself came and went before Ai and Rina got around to enacting their plan, during which Rina devoted her spare time to researching the scams, understanding the general structure and developing tools to make things easier. Ai spent most of her time practicing her impression of an old lady which, according to her, received great praise from the old folks.

After extensive preparations, the day finally arrived. Ai went to Rina’s house on an early Saturday morning, skipping out on her volunteering for the day. After spending the morning going through the plan and making final preparations, they ate a hearty lunch and sat in front of one of Rina’s old computers.

As Rina made final checks on everything, Ai rolled the mobile phone around in her hands. “Hey Rinari, my portrayal of an old woman isn’t too insulting, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think so.” Rina replied with hesitation. “You’re more focused on emulating the type of person they are targeting than you are insulting anyone. Besides, didn’t the old people say it was good?”

“I suppose they did. Thank you Rinari. I just think that the nerves are kicking in, since its finally happening.”

“It finally is.” Rina finished the rest of her checks, lifting her head away from the screen and sliding it over to Ai. “Is there anything else I should be doing while you are talking on the phone? I feel like I’m just going to be sitting here.”

“Trust me Rinari, you’ve done more than your fair share of work! I’m still amazed at that fake bank you made! It could genuinely pass for a real one! Feel free to relax and laugh along!”

“I’ll do just that then.” Rina’s actions of collecting and organizing her notes in front of her might have betrayed her words, but she genuinely felt like a weight had been lifted from inside her chest. “I’m ready to start now, are you?”

“I’m ready! Let’s get this done!” Ai entered the number she received from the old lady carefully into her phone, double checking it to make sure it was correct. Rina had already made sure before hand that the line was still in operation, so that wasn’t going to be an issue. The pair held their breaths as the phone rang, and finally exhaled when it was picked up.

“ _Hello? This is Efficient PC Support how can I help you?_ ” The voice on the other side was a generic sounding female one, the static of the phone eliminating any unique vocal qualities.

“Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?” Hearing Ai’s old lady impression, Rina felt a smile creep onto her face.

“ _Yes I can hear you. How can I help you ma’am?_ ”

“Urm…” Ai hesitated for a few seconds. The two had agreed beforehand that the start would be the hardest part since they hadn’t been contacted beforehand. “I got a call earlier today saying that I was due a refund for some kind of service?”

“ _Ah…erm… yes. Yes you are. The process of giving you this refund might take a long time, so do you have enough time to spare today?_ ” The stumbles in the woman’s voice might have indicated skepticism, but she didn’t act on it.

“I’ve deliberately freed up the rest of my day! I don’t remember paying for any kind of service, but I won’t say no to free money! How much am I due, anyway?”

“ _Uhhh… the refund you are due should come down to around $500, ma’am._ ”

“500 yen? That’s pocket change! I can barely get a guitar for that kind of money! I got excited for no reason then.” Ai mumbled dejectedly.

“ _I meant DOLLARS ma’am, not yen. Are you from Japan?_ ”

“I am. Good god what a beautiful country! I could go on and on about everything I like here, from the food to the cherry blossoms every spring to our culture and heritage and even the tourism! I swear, I’ve spoken to so many tourists while I’ve lived here and they’ve all been so nice-“

“ _Ma’am I think you’re going-_ “

“-to me! And don’t get me started on the anime! A lot of people nowadays shun the TV that gets produced but I find it exhilarating! I have so many good memories of watching _Mobile Suit Gundam_ and _Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken_ and _JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure_ and _Revue Starlight_ and _BanG Dream_ -“

“ _Ma’am-_ “

“-and urm… _Cory in the House_! That’s my favourite one! I have a group of super close friends who I watch anime with you know! We have a tradition every Saturday where we get together and drink tea at the same time, and its almost as if we’re all together-“

“ _MA’AM PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME! Forgive me for shouting but we really should get-“_

“Oh my god its time!” Ai hastily lifted a mug of water up to the phone speaker and sloppily drank the water, making as much obnoxious noise as possible. She let out a polite ‘Ah!’ after a few seconds of mulling over her water. “Delicious. Its like we’re all together. Sorry, have I been interrupting you?”

The pair heard an exasperated breath over the phone. “ _Don’t worry about it ma’am. Lets just get started now. In order to complete the process, we’ll need to download a piece of remote access software. Using this I can access your computer and help transfer you the refund. Is that ok?_ ”

“I don’t fully understand all this tech stuff, but sure! I don’t see how this could go wrong!” Ai replied innocently, laughing into her elbow at the end.

“ _That’s good. The software you’re looking for is called GoToAssist, could you search that up and download it for me?”_

“Sure thing dear! Let’s see…” Ai slightly lowered the phone away from her face and started hovering her fingers over the laptops keyboard. She typed in the ‘G’, and then the ‘O’ after a 15 second delay. “Sorry dear, but could you repeat that?”

“ _Sure thing. That’s GoToAssist. G,O,T,O,A,S,S,I,S,T._ ”

“T…O…” Ai typed at the slowest speed she could get away with. She placed the phone down the table. “Sorry, but could you repeat the other words?”

“ _Sorry ma’am, but have you got a better phone or landline to use? Your voice is really faint._ ”

“Oh no… I don’t know how to use the landline in my home. My granddaughter usually has to come over and do that for me.” Ai flashed a cheeky smile and wink at Rina, which made her grin. “I can try put you on speakerphone? Give me a second.”

“ _Take your time, ma’am._ ”

Ai fumbled around slowly and deliberately, reaching for a megaphone. She signaled for Rina to cover her ears, positioned it over the phone and took a deep breath before speaking.

“HELLO? CAN YOU REPEAT THE OTHER WORDS PLEASE?”

The end of Ai’s shouting was accompanied by a sharp ringing sound and a groan from the other side. “ _Christ woman! That’s too loud!_ ”

“It really is, huh? Funny how this speakerphone stuff works! Can you repeat the other words?”

The pair heard a deep breath from the other side of the line. “ _A,S,S,I,S,T_ ”

“ _A,S,S,I,S,T_ ” Ai typed slowly, a devilish grin forming on her face. “And enter! Ah wait, oops! I didn’t open the Google!”

“Good one Ai-chan.” Rina applauded quietly. Ai gave a quick thumbs up in response.

Another exasperated breath. “ _Don’t worry about it ma’am! Lets just do that again!_ ”

“Ok! I’ve just got to use Internet Explorer to download Google Chrome…”

“ _For gods sake ma’am, no you don’t! Just use Internet Explorer!_ ”

“I can’t! My granddaughter told me to never use Internet Explorer! I don’t know much about tech, but I pride myself on the knowledge I do have-“

“ _Just use Internet Explorer you dolt!_ ”

Ai’s eyes widened, and she turned to Rina. The girl on the other side of the phone was visibly angry for the first time. Rina checked the time, calculating that the call must have taken about 25 minutes. If she had the right idea about the bet the other members of the club were having, then Kasumi would be coughing up a lot of money.

“Alright! Alright! You don’t have to display that attitude young lady! I’ll make do with Internet Explorer then! Just don’t snitch on me to my granddaughter, ok?”

Ai finally opened her browser and typed in the words, taking a 15 second break between each one. Ai didn’t do anything more than act slowly as the remote access software was downloaded and the connection between the two PC’s was established. Ai looked on in shock and amazement as the cursor started moving on its own, controlled by the woman on the other side. Ai and Rina both internally agreed that the technology was amazing but just… not in this instance.

The support on the other line then proceeded to guide Ai through the transfer process. She started by opening the company bank, and then directed Ai to do the same with her bank. Ai passed the computer to Rina gleefully so she could start up the fake bank software. After looking at her own handiwork in the moment and remembering Ai’s past and current praise and appreciation, Rina felt a great sense of pride at her work. With a professional logo and a sleek design, it really did look like an online bank. Ai even said that the interest rates made Rina’s imaginary bank a better deal than anything else on the market.

“ _Alright ma’am, I’m going to start the transfer process now, ok? It’ll take a few minutes._ ” The girl had calmed down since her previous outburst, but Ai’s feet dragging always left her slightly irritated.

A mock update screen was displayed on the computer screen, obscuring the scammers real actions. Rina knew from her research that they were going to swap money between her accounts and edit the HTML to show that the transfer had been completed. Rina debated putting no money into the accounts, which would really send them for a loop and make them panic, but she deemed the other idea she had far more exciting. As Ai naturally kept up the innocent sounding small talk, Rina scribbled her instructions onto a whiteboard, which Ai acknowledged with a thumbs up.

“Don’t you think its amazing that girls can love girls? A lot of people my age hate it, but I love it! Isn’t it amazing how there’s so many new options nowadays? It feels like there’s such much freedom now, and although I never had that growing up myself I’m glad the new generation gets to have it. My granddaughter is a lesbian, and I’m so happy for her. It really feels like a proper progression of humanity, doesn’t it? This is also-“

“ _Ok ma’am, I’m-_ “

“-super unrelated, but I love those newfangled J-Pop idols, or whatever they’re called! They try so hard to entertain and make people smile and I think that’s really sweet! My granddaughter loves them too, and we spend so much time enjoying lives together! My favourite idol is called Ai Miyashita, she’s so energetic and talented! They’re one of my favorite pastimes alongside baking and walking my 15 Jack Russell’s! Oooh! I should tell you about my Jack-“

“ _MA’AM! I’VE FINISHED THE TRANSFER!_ ”

“You have! Finally! Took you long enough!”

“ _Can you check the transaction to make sure its correct?_ ”

“Sure thing, urm…” Ai scrolled down to the bottom of the page, eyeing the most recent transfer. As Rina suspected, the transfer was botched. Instead of $500, the transfer had sent $5000.

“ _Hold on, ma’am? Are you seeing what I’m seeing?_ ” There was a sense of fake panic injected into her voice.

“No I’m not seeing it.”

“ _Ma’am. It says $5000 instead of $500. The transfer went wrong… oh gods…_ ”

“Ooooo I can see it now! Hold on, my granddaughter taught me a trick for this! If we refresh the page it might fix it! I’ll give that a try…”

“ _Wait, ma’am-_ “

“Done!” Ai slammed the F5 key on her keyboard before the scammer could react, resetting the page, the HTML and all of the scammer’s progress. “Did that do anything?”

“ _God dammit ma’am! I mean… urm… I’ll try it again! Give me a few minutes!_ ” The pair took great delight in the shakiness of the girl’s voice but took less delight in seeing the fake update screen again. The girl had unfortunately reacted fast enough to cover up the act.

After a few minutes, the scammer had finished the transaction and, predictably, the transfer was botched yet again.

“ _Oh gods, not again… The refresh didn’t stop it from going through…_ ”

Ai stifled a laugh at her awful acting. “I don’t really understand what’s going on. Wasn’t the transfer successful? I’ll hang up now if it is-“

“ _NO MA’AM! You were only due $500 dollars, not $5000!_ ”

“5000 yen? I think that’s a number you can let go. It’s not that much-“

“ _FOR F*CKS SAKE ITS NOT IN YEN! ITS IN DOLLARS!_ ”

Ai bolted upright in her seat but turned towards Rina without hesitation to make sure she was still ok. Rina had covered her ears, but she gave Ai a thumbs up and a nod.

Ai nodded gravely and returned to the phone. Her light disposition had been replaced by a stern expression. “EXCUSE ME young lady! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? My granddaughters here with me and she can’t be hearing that kind of language!”

“ _Ma’am… I’m sorry for flying off the handle. Its just… $5000 dollars is a lot of money, and the banks will be shut by now. I don’t want to lose my job!_ ” Ai rolled her eyes at the fake sniveling coming from the scammer. A great deal of fury surged through Rina, the memory of the poor woman’s sobbing fresh in her mind despite it being so long ago.

“Oh gods! I don’t want you to lose your job! We can come back to this another time if you want! We can do it when the banks are-“

“ _And you’ll just take the money, right?_ ”

Ai furrowed her brow. “What?”

“ _Keep in mind, $4500 of that money is not yours. This might make me an incompetent employee, but wouldn’t this make you a thief? There’ll be severe consequences for the both of us if we don’t sort this now._ ”

“A thief? I’m… not sure that’s how the law works my dear. I remember studying it at Harvard in nineteen-ought-seven-“

“ _You’d BETTER shut up and listen to me. I’m getting that money back TODAY._ ”

The cold callousness of the woman’s voice made Rina’s blood run cold. She imagined the older woman in this situation, frightened, vulnerable and walking into an escalating situation without much understanding of anything. The old woman must have felt so much fear and shock.

Instead Rina felt anger and determination. There was nothing the scammer could do to them, but there was a whole lot they could do to her.

Rina turned to Ai with renewed vigor, and found the same feelings etched into her face. She took a deep breath and returned the phone to her lips. “Alright my dear,” Ai started dangerously. “I won’t tolerate your tone, but I’ll do it. What do I need to do to get the money to you?”

“ _You need to go buy $4500 worth of gift cards and send me the codes. Then I can redeem them on my side._ ”

“That’s a thought, though I’m sure we could still try the banks-“

“ _GIFTCARDS, MA’AM. Do you have a place where you can buy them?_ ”

Ai grit her teeth in anger, and Rina let out a shaky breath. “I could try Lawsons, I suppose…”

“ _Good. Now run along and get those cards. You’d better ring back afterwards, or there’ll be trouble for the both of us._ ”

“If you have that many issues trusting me, then I’ll just take you with me while I drive.”

“ _What-_ “

“Give me a few seconds to get ready.” After this, Ai promptly ended the call, which lasted for just over an hour. Her face and voice softened as she turned to Rina. “I know this isn’t in the script, but can we try this?”

“Sure thing. I’m with you.” Rina answered defiantly.

Ai clapped her hands together. “Great! Now we just need a way of making car noises.”

“I can dig out a soundboard with related sounds, just give me a moment…” Rina dug around her room until she found said board. She pressed a shiny red button on the front, producing the sound of the engine roaring.

Ai’s face flashed into a devilish grin. “Excellent, Rinari! Are you ready for this?”

“I’ve never been more ready for anything.”

“Alright!” She called the number again and waited for it to pick up. The pair waited with uneasy anticipation until the same voice returned.

“ _Hello? Are you the same person?_ ”

“I am! I’m just making my way to Lawsons now! I’ve thought of some other ideas too while I got ready. Do you want to hear them?” Ai’s voice returned to her usual sunny tone. Rina repeated the sound of the engine on the soundboard, and while it sounded repetitive the other voice was too occupied to notice.

“ _I don’t need your other ideas! I need the gift cards-_ “

“No you’ll want to hear this! If I can get that $4500 bequeathed to you in my last will, then I can send it to you when I die. Doesn’t that sound interesting! I can give property and money to my granddaughter and save your job at the same time! I can’t think of a better way to end my days!”

Ai reveled in the few seconds of hesitation she got from the other side. “ _Ma’am, I need the money NOW. I’ll have lost my job by the time the money gets transferred. I need you in order to save my job._ ”

“I see. I’ll make sure to stay alive until then. I need to be careful on these roads though. The officials deemed me unfit to drive about a year ago.” She flashed a thumbs up to Rina, who hovered a finger over a different button.

“ _Wait. Unfit to drive-_ “

“OH MY GOD THE CAR!” Ai shouted. Rina pressed two new buttons on the soundboard within a 5 second duration: first a skidding noise, and then an orchestra of crashing sounds.

“ _Oh my god, ma’am? Ma’am? Are you ok?_ ”

Ai and Rina giggled among themselves quietly as they drank in the distress from the other side.

“ _Ma’am? MA’AM? F*cking hell. I didn’t sign up for this.”_ The swear word was muttered as an aside, but it was loud enough for Ai and Rina to read it. _“Ma’am please respond!_ ”

“Urghhh! Urghhh!

“ _Ma’am! MA’AM! Are you alright?_ ”

“Oh gosh! That’s definitely shaken up the old bones! I’m doing fine my dear! You seem quite shaken though, are you ok?”

“ _I am, its just… I’m glad your ok. I don’t know what I would have done if you would have died over there._ ”

Perhaps the pair would have accepted this if the woman weren’t a scammer. “Oh don’t be like that. I’m tougher than I look you know!”

“ _W…What?_ ”

“Anyways, I’ve just arrived at Lawsons! We can go in together to buy those gift cards!”

“ _Wait, what?”_

“What do you mean, ‘Wait, what?’ How else are they going to understand what’s going on?

“ _No, I can’t!_ ”

“Oh hush dear, it’ll be fine-“

“ _I’m hanging up!_ ”

With a sharp click, the call ended, this time lasting just under 10 minutes. After a few seconds of silent processing, the pair burst into laughter.

“Oh gosh Rinari! I think I’m having more fun than I thought I would have!” Ai smiled happily.

“Same here! It’s fun watching you do your thing.” Rina’s eyes dropped to the floor, and she started rubbing her palms together. “I wouldn’t have been able to do this good on my own so… thank you.”

“Anytime! I should be thanking you too! The research and tech you’ve built has been amazing! In fact, I want to ask one final favor. We’ll be redeeming the gift cards in front of the scammer, right?”

Rina nodded. If her memory served correctly, this part of the process was the most effective when it came to angering the scammer. She could barely imagine the sheer volume of swear words the pair would be pelted with. “We’ll be using the program I made to do it.”

“Can you make one alteration to it?” Ai asked excitedly.

“I want to change some things anyway. The program is based on the Google Play Store, so I need to make sure that the Lawsons cards we use don’t cause any problems. What do you have in mind?”

“You’ll love this, Rinari.”

\----------

After 30 minutes, the pair were back in front of the computer. They had taken the time to get food and drinks and calm themselves before the final stretch. Rina cut off the remote access and made the final alterations to the card redeeming program that Ai had suggested, and the pair laughed themselves silly in anticipation because of it.

Ai rang the phone again, the ringing sound resonating throughout the room. Ai was practically bobbing up and down in her chair, while Rina was on the edge of her seat. Ai had told her to ‘sit back and watch’ beforehand and she intended to do just that.

After a few seconds, the ringing stopped and the woman’s voice returned. “ _Is that you, ma’am?_ ”

“It is! I bought nine 500$ gift cards just like you requested!” There was a giddy tone to her voice and the scammer on the other side took it well.

“ _I’m just as happy as you are ma’am. We can finally put this behind us. Just tell me the codes and we’ll be sorted._ ”

“It’s the sixteen digit code on the back, right?”

“ _Indeed it is. You might need to scratch something off first._ ”

“I already have! In fact dear, I also have a way of sending you the money without telling you the code!”

“ _Wait, what?_ ”

“Yeah I do! If I enter the code and press redeem here I can redeem it for you!”

“ _No ma’am! You have to tell me the code!_ ”

Ai was already copy pasting the code into the program. She didn’t need to, since the scammer couldn’t see it, but she figured it would help with immersion. “See, it says here! 500 yen has been added to your balance!”

“ _MA’AM! You’ve redeemed it to your account! Not mine! You’ve just taken $500 dollars from me!_ ”

“Oh hush, my dear. ‘Steal’ is such a… strong word-“

“ _TURN ON REMOTE ACCESS!_ ”

“Alright, alright! I’ll do it!”

After a few minutes, the remote access had been reestablished, and the scammer could see the laptop screen again. Rina’s card redeeming program was there, showing the scammer that the card had been redeemed.

“ _Look, LOOK. You’ve redeemed the card to your account you dumba*s!_ ”

Ai was starting to struggle to maintain her composure. “Language, young lady! And I have redeemed it to your account. Look, I’ll show you!”

“ _No don’t you DARE!_ ”

Unfortunately for the scammer, Ai did dare. She quickly redeemed another card and took great delight in knowing that the scammer saw it. Rina was struggling to contain herself beside Ai, covering her mouth with her sleeve.

“Look here! 500 yen has been added to your balance!”

“ _YOU MOTHERF- wait, yen? YEN?_ ”

“Can you read, my dear. It says 500 yen has been added to your account, right there!”

After a few seconds of silence, Ai and Rina heard heavy breathing on the other side of the line. “So you’ve bought nine 500 yen cards?” Her voice was shaking with quiet anger, waiting to be unleashed.

Ai shuffled some plastic cards in her hands for a few seconds. “Oh fiddlesticks! I’ve bought 500 yen cards! Those aren’t the ones you want, are they?” Ai was at her wits end, and the laugh she let out at the end was the first time she had broken her character all afternoon.

Ai and Rina shared looks and heavy breaths as the silence dragged on. After a few seconds, they heard several loud thuds from the other side.

“ _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!_ ”

At this point, Ai and Rina completely lost it. They collapsed back into their chairs laughing. Luckily, the scammer was too blinded by rage to notice at first.

“ _ARE YOU STUPID? ARE YOU F*CKING STUPID? YOU MOTHERF*CKER! YOU’VE WASTED TWO HOURS OF MY TIME, AND I GET 500 YEN CARDS! YEN AND DOLLARS ARE TWO DIFFERENT CURRENCIES YOU INCOMPETENT A*SE! I THOUGHT THIS WAS SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, HOW THE F*CK HAS AN OLD S*IT LIKE YOU LIVED THIS LONG?_ ”

Ai and Rina were too busy laughing to be swayed by the scammers colourful language. It was at this point where the woman finally noticed their laughter.

“ _AND NOW YOU’RE LAUGHING! YOU HAVE THE F*CKING GALL TO LAUGH! I SWEAR TO F*CK! YOU SHOULD HAVE F*CKING DIED IN THAT CRASH ON THE WAY TO LAWSONS! OR WAS THAT CRASH EVEN REAL, YOU LIAR? F*CKING FESS UP! WHATS YOUR GAME?”_

Ai quickly composed herself enough to speak through the phone. “You want to know my game?” she asked confidently in her own voice. When she got no response other than the heavy breathing on the other side, she shared a look with Rina and raised the phone up to her lips.

“Stream _Saikou Heart_ , scammer.”

She then promptly hung up and slammed the phone down on the table. Her eyes turned to face Rina’s and it took less than five seconds for the pair to burst out laughing all over again.

\----------

The atmosphere of the club was bright and cheery like usual. Well, save for one person. Kasumi was 2000 yen poorer, for not only underestimating how long it would take for the scammer to get angry, but also how long it took for the first swear word to be said. Setsuna said it best: “You shouldn’t underestimate these two when they’re on a mission!”

The revenge plot had gone down well at the old folks home too. Everyone, including the victim, was cheering by the end, and it was a sight neither of them ever wanted to forget.

The mission was a success. So successful in fact, that Rina thought it would be a waste not to follow up on it.

“Say, Ai-chan. Do you want to go after another scammer?”

Ai’s face lit up halfway through her _nukazuke_. “I thought you’d never ask Rinari! I swear, you’ve got a knack for this kind of stuff!”

“You do too Ai-chan! Your grandma impression is incredible.” Rina cheered. “There are lots of online people who devote themselves to finding and annoying these scammers. I got some of my research from watching them. If we can waste the scammer’s time, we can protect more victims from these scams.”

Ai tilted her head, her eyes flashing brilliantly. “Ooooo online people? So you’re saying we could upload them too?”

“Maybe not upload them, but just make it a personal hobby.”

“I love the sound of that Rinari! Let’s do it then!” Ai balled her fist and offered it towards Rina. “We’ll make the perfect team!”

Rina pushed down her sleeve, balled her own fist and pushed it against Ai’s. “Let’s do it! Tell them to stream _Tsunagaru Connect_ next.”

“That is such a good thought! I’ll do just that!”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday Rina! I love Rina, especially since I see a lot of neurodivergent traits in her! However none of these really showed up in this fic. Instead it was epic scammer owning time with AiRina! If you haven't anything made by Jim Browning or Kitboga on YouTube I highly recommend you check them out! I hope I represented the refund scam correctly enough! I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't think about this while writing this, but keep in mind that reporting these numbers is one of the best and most mature ways to deal with these people. Also I apologise for all the swearing the scammer did. As someone who doesn't swear in real life I struggled to add it in, so if you found it off-putting I sincerely apologise. 
> 
> Also, this is not only the longest solo fic I've released to date, but also the 50th! That's pretty epic.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! If you have any comments or feedback feel free to leave them here! If you want to reach out on twitter feel free to do so at @ash060500!
> 
> I hope you have a good rest of your day and I wish you the best in staying safe!


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